Li Ki: The Book of Rites
By e-artnow
()
About this ebook
Related to Li Ki
Related ebooks
A History of Chinese Literature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Texts of Taoism, Part I Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Shu King: The Book of Documents Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue: An Annotated Translation of Wu Yue Chunqiu Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Shih King, or, Book of Poetry From the Sacred Books of the East Volume 3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGarden of Eloquence / Shuoyuan說苑 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRecords of the Transmission of the Lamp: Volume 7 (Books 27-28) Biographies and Extended Discourses Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsXuanhe Catalogue of Paintings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDaoism Explained: From the Dream of the Butterfly to the Fishnet Allegory Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChuang Tzu: Mystic, Moralist, and Social Reformer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Essential Huainanzi Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRecords of the Transmission of the Lamp (Jingde Chuandeng Lu): Volume 8 (Books 29&30) – Chan Poetry and Inscriptions Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnearthing the Changes: Recently Discovered Manuscripts of the Yi Jing ( I Ching) and Related Texts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGenesis in Ancient China: The Creation Story in China's Earliest Script Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRecords of the Grand Historian Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFacing the Moon: Poems of Li Bai and Du Fu Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Book to Burn and a Book to Keep (Hidden): Selected Writings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsClassic of History (Part 1 & 2: The Book of Thang & The Books of Yü) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lady of Linshui Pacifies Demons: A Seventeenth-Century Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMencius (Bilingual Edition: English/Chinese) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Thousand Buddhas: Ancient Buddhist Paintings from the Cave-Temples of Tun-huang on the Western Frontier of China Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPatriarchs on Paper: A Critical History of Medieval Chan Literature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Simple Approach to Taoism: Festivals, Worship and Rituals Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTaoist Sacred Texts. Vol.I. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Resurrected Skeleton: From Zhuangzi to Lu Xun Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Quintessence of Love Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReligions of Ancient China Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnderstanding Chinese Culture in Relation to Tao Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Philosophy For You
Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Meditations: A New Translation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of Loving Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Meditations: Complete and Unabridged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar...: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Good and Evil Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Courage to Be Happy: Discover the Power of Positive Psychology and Choose Happiness Every Day Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Four Loves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Republic by Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lying Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tao Te Ching: A New English Version Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Be Here Now Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Complete Papyrus of Ani Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Denial of Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Course in Miracles: Text, Workbook for Students, Manual for Teachers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Plato's Republic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Experiencing God (2021 Edition): Knowing and Doing the Will of God Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5THE EMERALD TABLETS OF THOTH THE ATLANTEAN Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inward Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Human Condition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Buddha's Guide to Gratitude: The Life-changing Power of Everyday Mindfulness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Daily Stoic: A Daily Journal On Meditation, Stoicism, Wisdom and Philosophy to Improve Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Lessons of History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Li Ki
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Li Ki - e-artnow
INTRODUCTION.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER I.
THREE DIFFERENT LÎ KING, OR RITUAL BOOKS, ACKNOWLEDGED IN CHINA. THE RECOVERY OF THE FIRST TWO, AND FORMATION OF THE THIRD, UNDER THE HAN DYNASTY.
Table of Contents
How Confucius spoke of the Lî.
1. Confucius said, 'It is by the Odes that the mind is aroused; by the Rules of Propriety that the character is established; from Music that the finish is received.' On another occasion he said, 'Without the Rules of Propriety, respectfulness becomes laborious bustle; carefulness, timidity; boldness, insubordination; and straightforwardness, rudeness.'
These are two specimens of the manner in which Confucius expressed himself about the Lî, the Rules of Propriety or Ceremonial Usages, recognised in his time. It is a natural inference from his language that there were Collections of such Rules which could be read and studied; but he does not expressly say so.
How Mencius spoke of them.
The language of Mencius was more definite. In at least two passages of his works we find the usual form of quotation Lî Yüeh, 'The Lî says,' which, according to the analogy of Shih Yüeh, 'The Shih King, or Book of Poetry, says,' might be rendered,
'The Lî. King says.' In another passage, he says to a Mr. King Khun, 'Have you not read the Lî?' It does not appear that Mencius was always referring to one and the same collection of Lî; but it is clear that in his time there were one or more such collections current and well known among his countrymen.
Now there are three Lî King, or three Rituals.
There are now three Chinese classics into which the name Lî enters:--the Î Lî, the Kâu Lî, and the Lî Kî, frequently styled, both by the Chinese themselves and by sinologists, 'The Three Rituals.' The first two are books of the Kâu dynasty (B.C. 1122-225). The third, of which a complete translation is given in the present work, may contain passages of an earlier date than either of the others; but as a collection in its present form, it does not go higher than the Han dynasty, and was not completed till our second century. It has, however, taken a higher position than those others, and is ranked with the Shû, the Shih, the Yî, and the Khun Khiû, forming one of 'The Five King,' which are acknowledged as the books of greatest authority in China. Other considerations besides antiquity have given, we shall see, its eminence to the Lî Kî.
State of the Lî books at the rise of the Han an dynasty.
2. The monuments of the ancient literature, with the exception, perhaps, of the Yi King, were in a condition of disorder and incompleteness at the rise of the Han dynasty. (B.C. 206). This was the case especially with the Î Lî and Kâu Lî. They had suffered, with the other books, from the fires and proscription of the short-lived dynasty of Khin, the founder of which was bent especially on their destruction; and during the closing centuries of Kâu, in all the period of 'The Warring Kingdoms,' they had been variously mutilated by the contending princess.
Work of the ancient emperors of Han in recovering the books.
The sovereigns of Han undertook the task of gathering up and arranging the fragments of the ancient books, and executed it well.. In B.C. 213 Shih Hwang Tî of Khin had promulgated his edict forbidding any one to hide and keep in his possession the old writings. This was repealed in B.C. 191 by the emperor Hui, so that it had been in existence only twenty-two years, during most of which, we may presume, it had been inoperative. Arrangements were also made to receive and preserve old tablets which might be presented, and to take down in writing what scholars might be able to repeat. In B.C. 164, the emperor Wan ordered 'the Great Scholars' of his court to compile 'the Royal Ordinances,' the fifth of the Books in our Lî Kî.
Recovery of the Î Lî.
i. Internal evidence shows that when this treatise was made, the Î Lî, or portions of it at least, had been recovered; and with this agrees the testimony of Sze-mâ Khien, who was born perhaps in that very year, and lived to between B.C. 90 and 80. In the 61st Book of his Biographies, referred to in a note above, Khien says, 'Many of the scholars repeated (parts of) the Lî; but no other of them so much as Kâo Thang of Lû; and now we have only the Shih Lî, which he was able to recite.' In harmony with this statement of the great historian, is the first entry in Liû Hsin's Catalogue of Lî books in the Imperial library of Han:--'56 küan or sections of Lî in the old text, and 17 phien in the (current) text (of the time);' forming, as is universally believed, the present Î Lî, for which the Shih Lî of Khien is merely another name.
That Kâo Thang should have been able to dictate so much of the work will not be thought wonderful by those who
are familiar with the power of memory displayed by many Chinese scholars even at the present day. The sections in the old text were found in the reign of the emperor Wû (B.C. 140-87), and came into the possession of his brother, known as king Hsien of Ho-kien. We do not know how much this mass of tablets added to the Î Lî, as we now have it, but they confirmed the genuineness of the portion obtained from Kâo.
King Hsien of Ho-kien, and his recovery of the Kâu Lî.
ii. The recovery of the Kâu Lî came not long after, and through the agency of the same king Hsien. No one did so much as he in the restoration of the ancient of literature. By name Teh, and one of the fourteen sons of the emperor King (B.C. 156-141), he was appointed by his father, in B.C. 155, king of